(United Nations) The United States on Saturday threatened to once again block a draft UN Security Council resolution calling for an “immediate humanitarian ceasefire” in Gaza, a text on which Algeria requested a vote for Tuesday.
After weeks of discussions, Algeria, which launched this initiative after the decision at the end of January by the International Court of Justice calling on Israel to prevent any possible act of “genocide” in Gaza, requested a vote for Tuesday morning, indicated several diplomatic sources at AFP.
The latest version of the text seen by AFP on Saturday “demands an immediate humanitarian ceasefire which must be respected by all parties”, while the Israeli offensive in Gaza has left 28,858 dead, the vast majority civilians. , according to the Hamas Ministry of Health.
The draft resolution “rejects the forced displacement of the Palestinian civilian population” and calls for an end to this “violation of international law”.
He also once again calls for the release of all the hostages.
Like previous texts castigated by Israel and the United States, it does not, however, condemn the unprecedented attack by Hamas on October 7 against Israel which resulted in the death of more than 1,160 people, the majority civilians, according to a count. from AFP based on official Israeli data.
American Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield denounced in a statement on Saturday Algeria’s decision to put the text to a vote, repeating that this could “go against” ongoing diplomatic negotiations with a view to a truce including further releases of hostages.
“For this reason, the United States does not support” a vote on this text and “if we came to a vote on the current draft, it would not be adopted,” she warned, clearly threatening of a vet.
In mid-October and then at the beginning of December, despite pressure from the international community in the face of the humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip, the Americans vetoed two draft texts calling for a ceasefire.
The Council, largely divided on the Israeli-Palestinian question for years, has only been able to adopt two essentially humanitarian texts on this issue since October 7.
The last one adopted at the end of December – the United States abstaining – called for the “large-scale” delivery of humanitarian aid to the Palestinian territory.
Despite the risk of a new American veto, the Palestinian ambassador to the UN Riyad Mansour insisted a few days ago for a vote.
“We believe that it is now high time for the Security Council to adopt a resolution on a humanitarian ceasefire,” he pleaded, considering that he had been “more than generous in giving more time” .